'Tent' is Latin for 'something stretched' — from 'tendere' (to stretch). A shelter of taut fabric.
A portable shelter made of cloth or skins, supported by poles and ropes, used especially for camping.
From Old French 'tente,' from Vulgar Latin *tenta (something stretched out, a stretched shelter), the feminine past participle of Latin 'tendere' (to stretch, to extend), from PIE *ten- (to stretch, to draw out). A tent is etymologically a 'stretched thing' — fabric drawn taut over poles to form a sheltering canopy. The same PIE root *ten- is extraordinarily productive: it gives Latin 'tendere' (stretch), 'tenēre' (hold), 'tenuis' (thin, stretched thin), 'tenor' (sustained pitch), 'tendon' (sinew that stretches), 'tension,' 'tender' (stretched thin, delicate), Greek 'teinein' (to stretch), 'tonos' (tension, tone), Sanskrit 'tanoti' (stretches), Gothic 'þanjan' (to stretch), and English 'thin' (via Proto-Germanic *þunnuz, stretched out). English